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New Zealand invites Pacific peers to review its development cooperation

Tonga Daily News:

Tuesday, 18 November 2014

New Zealand has volunteered to be the first development partner in the Pacific region to undergo a review of its aid programme by Pacific island peers.

The review will focus on New Zealand’s development cooperation and will give greater insight into how effectively its policies and programmes support Pacific countries’ development.

The process, coordinated by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), will be the first Development Partner Peer Review undertaken as part of the Forum Compact.

“Building on the results of peer reviews of 13 Pacific island developing countries undertaken over the last four years, a peer review of development partners in the Pacific was a logical next step,” says Cristelle Pratt, Acting Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

“The peer reviews of development partners will seek to complement the country peer reviews, which focused on how to strengthen country systems in development planning, budgeting, and public financial and aid management. This is crucial given that the overall effectiveness of development efforts is reliant upon the contributions of both the donor and the recipient country.”

The development partner reviews will also cater to the region’s growing appetite for evidence based policy and decision making. The reviews will build on the principles of knowledge sharing, learning and assessment.

The New Zealand review team will meet in Wellington from 17th to 23rd November 2014 with relevant government agencies and civil society.

The team will then travel to Tarawa from 24th to 29th November 2014 for consultations with the Government of Kiribati as part of a case study of the New Zealand Aid Programme in action.

A key output of this review will be a set of recommendations on how New Zealand’s development cooperation with Pacific island countries could be improved, supported by an agreed implementation plan.